Yankees Close To Keeping Veteran Slugger Brett Gardner

The New York Yankees are close to re-signing one of their veterans.

Jon Hayman of the MLB Network tweeted that the Yankees are in talks with Brett Gardner to stay for another year at least.

Yankees and Brett Gardner are already talking about trying to stay together contractually. Why not? It’s been a fantastic marriage for both. Longest tenured Yankee had career highs in HR (28) and OPS (.829) in 2019.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 7, 2019

However, many deemed the potential signing as an anticipated one.

Gardner, a third-round selection in the 2005 MLB Draft, has been with the Yankees since he finally made his top-flight debut on June 30, 2008.

The lefty outfielder won the World Series with the Yankees the following year and made an All-Star appearance in 2015.

Gardner just exhausted his latest one-season deal with the Yankees worth $7.5 million, but another one year deal could be on the way.

RJ Anderson of CBS Sports explained that the potential Gardner re-signing is in line with the injury bug surrounding Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks.

Stanton was plagued with injuries this past season, and the Yankees may be very cautious about his health even if he was inserted into its spring training team next year.

Hicks, on the other hand, just underwent a Tommy John surgery which will sideline him for the first half of the upcoming season.

Another reason for a potential new Yankees contract for Gardner is that he just had one of his best seasons ever.

Gardner slugged a career-high 28 home runs this year and had a .829 on-base plus slugging rate.

Matt Blake set to become Yankees' pitching coach

While the Yankees are working on a new deal with Gardner, they just sealed one with Matt Blake to become their pitching coach.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Blake will replace Larry Rothschild as the Yankees' pitching coach.

Interestingly enough, the reported acquisition came just two days after Blake was named the director of pitching development of the Cleveland Indians.

MLB Network's Mark Feinsand, quoting someone who worked with Blake in Cleveland, said that Blake's work ethic and analytic work will give the Yankees a huge boost in their bullpen.

However, the source added that his lack of experience really coaching could be a thing of concern for a team that was sixth in the American League in earned run average last season.

I spoke with someone who worked with Matt Blake in Cleveland. He had only positive things to say about Blake’s work ethic and his analytic work, though he noted that Blake’s lack of coaching/dugout experience makes this out-of-the-box hire an interesting one.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 8, 2019